Rock on aquafaba! You might have heard about aquafaba… Well, if you haven’t, you can read more about it here. Shortly said it’s liquid from legumes, which you’ll get when you pour the liquid out from a can of beans. You can also cook the beans yourself and get the liquid from that. Aquafaba is really a miracle ingredient, which you can use in lots of things.

You can season the basic mayo recipe in different ways, then you will get e.g. aioli (garlic mayo) or chili mayo. This mayo is really good, almost all (non-vegan) people who have tasted it have said that it’s much better than a mayo with eggs. And it’s not hard to make and it doesn’t take long to make. All you need is a blender or an immersion blender (which I used), ingredients and approximately 10 minutes of your time. Check out the recipe and try it out!

Place aquafaba, vinegar (or lemon juice) and mustard into a narrow mixing bowl with high walls. Blend with an immersion blender, until ingredients are incorporated. Mix constantly and start pouring the oil SLOWLY as a very narrow string into mixture. Move the immersion blender up and down while adding the oil. After a while the mixture will become thicker. Continue adding oil until you are satisfied with the texture (the more oil you add, the thicker it will become). I used 250 ml of oil and it took about 5 minutes to mix it (time depends on the efficiency of the blender).

Season with salt and black pepper, if you want. You can also add some vinegar or lemon.

You can store the mayo in the fridge for several weeks. Just remember to use a clean glass jar to store it and always use a clean spoon to take out the mayo.

After a loooooong break, here I am again 🙂 It’s been almost a year since my last post, so I guess it’s time again to get myself together and start to publish easy, fast and what is the most important, delicious, recipes. And I’ve received so much feedback from different sources that they want to see new recipes, so that’s also a good reason to continue again 🙂

Enough said, the next salad doesn’t really need introductions… A classic – coleslaw. It fits perfectly with e.g. barbequed food and we like eating this also with hamburgers. A perfect side at this time of the year, when people are grilling a lot!

150 ml vegan mayonnaise (recipe here, though you can also use a ready made mayo)

3 tbs vinegar

2 tbs brown sugar

3 tbs soy milk

salt and black pepper, to taste

Cut cabbage in half and peel off a few thin outer layers. Cut each half into quarters and then cut out the hard core in the middle. Slice each quarter crosswise into thin shreds. Peel carrots and grate them into coarse shred with a box grater (or with a food processor). Combine shredded cabbage and grated carrots in a mixing bowl.

Prepare dressing in a separate bowl. Combine vegan mayo, vinegar, sugar, soy milk and whisk together. Season with salt and black pepper, to taste. Dressing should be vinegary, but sweet at the same time, so please feel free to fine tune it to your taste.

Pour dressing on top of cabbage and carrot shreds and mix well. Taste and add salt and black pepper, if needed. Let coleslaw rest in the fridge for approx. 1 hour before serving.

As requested, here’s a basic recipe for hummus. You can add all kinds of ingredients to the basic recipe, e.g. chili (fresh or powder), more lime or lemon juice, sun-dried tomatoes, olives, different herbs etc. etc. There are so many variations, so just try out different combinations and find your favourite!

When mixture is smooth, check taste and consistency. If hummus is too thick, add some chickpea liquid and blend until smooth. When hummus is ready, move it into serving dish. Drizzle olive oil on top, decorate with chickpeas and powdered paprika and herb leaves. Serve e.g. with falafel and pita bread or as dip sauce for veggie sticks.

I’ve explored the world of green smoothies for a while now and tried out all kinds of combinations 🙂 The other day was really warm in Munich (+30 degrees (C), which is already a bit too much for me…) and when I came back home from the fitness studio, I felt like having a fresh and summery smoothie. So after taking a peak into the cupboards, I came up with this banana strawberry smoothie with a maca twist.

OMG, two months since my last post! Time really flies… No worries, I haven’t forgotten you, my dear followers, as during those two months I’ve cooked numerous times, tested new recipes and also found a new friend, namely aquafaba 🙂

The liquid from canned beans is called aquafaba, which you can use (almost) the same way as egg whites. What a wonderful acquaintance, it has enabled me to enjoy once again e.g. meringue (especially pavlova), without eggs. Unbelievable ingredient! And please don’t ask me, who was the first one to think of using the liquid from canned beans for this matter 😉 In any case, I take my hat off for that person!

So far I’ve only used the liquid from canned chickpeas, but I understand that also the liquid from other beans (e.g. white beans) will do fine. I haven’t yet tested the liquid from e.g. kidney beans, at least then the colour will be completely different…

Anyway, making vegan meringue from aquafaba is so simple, I really encourage you to try it out and save the eggs. Try it the next time you are making something from canned beans. Even if you don’t “need” the meringue at that moment, don’t waste the liquid from the beans. Just make the meringue and store it in an airtight container.

Pour liquid from canned beans into bowl and whip for a while with a hand-mixer until it foams. Add sugar, lemon juice and vanilla powder and whip with full power for 5 – 10 minutes, until mixture starts to harden and it turns into white colour. Meringue mixture is ready when lifting the hand-mixer you can see tips in the mixture. Also, if you turn bowl upside down, mixture will stay in bowl.

Use piping tube or spoon to make disks (approx. 5 cm of diameter) on a baking tray covered with parchment paper. Bake in +100 degrees (C) for 1,5 hours. Turn off oven and leave meringues in the oven until it is completely cooled down (1-2 hours). Store meringues in an airtight container.

You can make e.g. mini pavlovas from the meringues. Cover the meringues with some plant-based whipped cream and decorate with berries and fruits. A perfect summer dessert!

I found an interesting soup recipe in the April 2015 issue of Vegetarian Living magazine. Very British, peas and mint 🙂 I like them both, so I decided to test the recipe on a rainy, cold day like today. I made a few changes and it turned out very tasty. Also the kids thought it was ok, although one of them is not a big fan of the traditional Finnish pea soup. But compared to that, this soup is “fresher”.

And I do know that you can’t get the wonderful Finnish rye bread everywhere (our freezer is luckily full of it), so naturally you can do the bread croutons using white bread. E.g. ciabatta, baguette, naan, toast… The choice is yours! If you are using white bread, the frying time of the croutons is much shorter than if you would use rye bread. And if you decide to serve the soup without the croutons, the dish is then gluten-free.

Heat olive oil in pan and sauté chopped onions for 2 – 3 minutes. Set aside 150 g of peas to thaw and add rest into pan with onions. Sauté for 2 minutes.

Add vegetable broth and lemon juice into pan and bring to boil. Cover and let simmer for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, make rye croutons. Cut rye bread into pieces. Heat 2 tbs of olive oil in frying pan. Add bread pieces onto pan and fry them on high medium heat for approx. 3 – 5 minutes, until pieces are crispy. Turn down heat. Move bread pieces to sides and add 1 tbs of olive oil to pan. Add chopped garlic into oil and sauté for approx. 30 – 60 seconds. Mix in with bread croutons and fry for a moment. Make sure not to burn garlic. Season with a pinch of salt.

When soup has boiled for 15 minutes, remove from heat and add 3/4 of chopped mint. Purée soup until smooth using a food processor or hand blender. Stir in remaining 150 g peas. Serve soup with bread croutons and sour cream (optional) and garnish with chopped mint.

I’ve been a bit suspicious about the green smoothies, because I’ve heard that they taste like grass, earth, leaves and all kinds of things. But I decided to give them a try, because I guess nobody can deny that they are healthy..? So today we started our morning with a green smoothie. And I have to admit that my doubts were unnecessary, it was so good. I’m definitely going to make them again and experiment with the ingredients.

Do use also frozen berries (especially in winter) or fruits (you can cut into pieces and freeze e.g. banana, pineapple and mango and use them in smoothies straight from the freezer), as smoothies taste the best when cold. Frozen berries and fruits also give nice texture for the smoothies.

SPICES (pinch by pinch, especially the stronger spices): e.g. vanilla powder, cinnamon, cardemon, chili, turmeric, black pepper, jeeraIf your smoothie still needs a bit of sweetness after adding all the wonderful fruits and berries, use e.g. dates, pinch of brown sugar, coconut sugar, agave syrup. Add ice cubes the last, so that the smoothie is cold when you drink it and it doesn’t become watery.

Making a smoothie is very easy 🙂 You only need a proper blender, which has enough power to mix all the ingredients. The instructions are simple: first mix the greens and liquids, only then add other ingredients. If you are testing different combinations for the first time, taste the smoothie every now and then and only then add the needed ingredients (e.g. spices). You can also adjust the texture of the smoothie while making it. If the smoothie is too thin and you want it to be thicker and creamier, add e.g. avocado or banana. If the smoothie is too thick, add a bit more the liquid that you have used until you have the desired texture.

Cut dandelion stalks and leaves and salad leaves into a bit smaller pieces and put into blender. Add orange juice and almond milk and blend until smooth. Then add cut fruits and vegetables. Remember to peel apple, pear and cucumber, if you are not using organic products. Blend until smooth.